Mouse: P.I. for Rent Is A lot Extra Than It Seems

Combining basic Thirties “rubber-hose” animation, retro gunplay, fashionable mechanics and exploration, and a deeply weird setting, Mouse: P.I. For Rent is shaping as much as be a really uncommon deal with – however there’s extra to this recreation than you may need realized from earlier trailers.

After asserting a March 19, 2026 launch date throughout in the present day’s ID@Xbox Showcase, we had been handled to a deep-dive on the sport, instantly from the builders at Fumi Studios in Warsaw, Poland.

You possibly can watch the complete deep-dive above, or learn on to seek out out the massive new particulars we discovered alongside the way in which:

“Extra Than Simply an Previous-school Shooter”

If there’s one factor to remove from in the present day’s introduction, it’s that Mouse is excess of a retro shooter in much more retro clothes. Whereas your core interplay is with the sport’s gunplay (extra on that later), it is a way more fashionable recreation than you would possibly assume.

For a begin, your character – battle veteran-turned-private investigator, Jack Pepper – doesn’t have only a single case to resolve. From the very starting, Jack’s offered with three separate circumstances to resolve, every of which can take him throughout town of Mouseburg to unravel their secrets and techniques.

Every case will be taken on in any order, asking you not simply to take down the enemies in your manner, however to seek out clues – whether or not these are bodily objects, info discovered by speaking to NPCs, or pictures you would possibly take. Clues can then be taken to your workplace’s basic string-adorned corkboard, and put in place to unlock new revelations and locations.

With 10 biomes to discover, every containing a number of ranges, that is very completely different to a Level A-to-Level B shooter.

The Hub

On the core of all that exploration is the sport’s hub world – set on the centre of Mouseburg, the hub incorporates Jack’s workplace, his native pub, and a workshop the place he can improve his weaponry earlier than heading to the following case. However there’s way more right here than a sequence of menus. NPCs would possibly provide conversations, and a spread of minigames are on provide to supply completely different gameplay experiences, and even rewards of recent clues, or upgrades.

The most important of those minigames will take you throughout your entire recreation – a basic collectible card recreation, themed round baseball, will see playing cards dropped throughout most of the ranges you’ll be preventing via, letting you construct a deck and tackle more and more tough matches.

And when you’re prepared to go away, you may soar in your automobile and make a journey throughout the gorgeous overworld map to your subsequent firefight.

Cartoon Fight

Mouse’s fight attracts on basic shooters like DOOM, however with added touches that deliver it proper updated. With a philosophy of “difficult however honest”, you’ll be pitted in opposition to hordes of enemies, amassing weaponry that ranges from the anticipated (Tommy weapons, shotguns) to the gleefully insane (a mind in a jar that fires psychic waves).

Each gun comes with an alt-fire mode, and will be upgraded over the course of the sport, serving to issues keep recent. However beware – enemies themselves will see upgrades, too. As you progress, acquainted enemy varieties will begin to get their very own modifications – a tank-like enemy you’ll have mastered can begin coming outfitted with a forcefield, for instance, forcing you to vary you tried-and-true strategy.

Bosses would possibly even throw in complete new mechanics, too – we noticed a ghost-like boss named the Third Spouse, which appears to require you to weaken her with a flashlight earlier than you can begin pumping lead.

Making the Previous the Future

And, in fact, we have to discuss how this recreation appears to be like. Whereas enivronments are rendered in 3D, each single character, enemy, and weapon has been painstakingly hand-drawn and animated to resemble basic Thirties “rubber hose” animation. The best way every part on the planet bounces, stretches, and bends is a tribute to that particular type (even shotgun shells appear to bounce of their chambers throughout a reload), and took an infinite quantity of labor from Fumi.

So as to add to the problem, the sport is solely black-and-white, which modified how Fumi approached conventional degree design. The place most video games use color to subtly information the participant, Fumi wanted to take that strategy with gentle, giving your entire recreation a singular look from a participant’s perspective. Even right here, we’re seeing a tribute to basic cartoons – interactable objects dance in place, ready so that you can discover them.

And to finish that tribute to the previous, we even discovered that Fumi has added customizable audio filters to the sport – you may select to play with crisp, fashionable sound results and music, or add degradation to assist it every part sound as if it’s being performed off of old-school vinyl. The eye to element – and to how gamers would possibly wish to expertise it – is evident throughout every part Fumi has touched.

Mouse: P.I for Rent involves Xbox Sequence X|S on March 19, 2026.

MOUSE: P.I. For Rent

PlaySide

☆☆☆☆☆

★★★★★

MOUSE: P.I. For Rent is an action-packed first-person shooter that attracts inspiration from the basic cartoons of the Thirties. Its black and white rubber hose visuals are drawn by hand, body by body, delivering a putting classic aesthetic. Unravel layers of corruption with an exciting noir-fueled detective story, full of life environments to discover, an unique large band jazz soundtrack, and a fully-loaded arsenal of cartoon weapons and devastating power-ups.

DEADLY INVESTIGATIONS

Meet Personal Investigator Jack Pepper, a former battle hero-turned-detective in a world the place hazard lurks even within the smallest mouse gap. Uncover the reality when a easy lacking individuals case rapidly escalates into a fancy net of intrigue, with corruption, kidnapping and homicide all on the docket. Examine the seedy underbelly of Mouseburg, battle closely armed gangs and crooked cops, and uncover clues to disclose the conspiracy buried beneath the floor.

LOCK, LOAD & LAUGH

From crackling machine weapons to explosive firepower, every weapon in Pepper’s arsenal is designed to deploy continuous cartoon chaos. Arm your self with an array of basic, creatively twisted and experimental firearms, and devour highly effective upgrades while you want that further spinach-loaded punch! Deadly encounters and manic boss battles await on this boomer shooter-inspired, retro-vibed journey – and the denizens of Mouseburg by no means go down with no combat.

A CITY OF SECRETS

Discover a various metropolis playground, from darkish streets to basic movie studios, opulent opera buildings, toxic swamps and underground sewers. With a myriad of circumstances to resolve and collectibles to seek out, Mouseburg is really a detective’s delight! Use each instrument at your disposal to wall-run, grapple-hook and double-jump via this unrelenting cartoon world.

FEATURES

– Black and white, hand-drawn rubber hose animation, impressed by cartoons of the Thirties
– Quick-paced FPS fight, the place fixed motion is vital
– An exhilarating single-player marketing campaign that unravels a fancy net of crime and corruption
– Over 20 noir-infused ranges, teeming with mice, rats and shrews
– Totally-loaded arsenal of over a dozen distinctive weapons and tools – with a cartoon twist
– Devastating consumable power-ups, able to turning the tide of any battle
– Unlockable motion talents and Metroidvania-inspired degree traversal
– Unique jazz soundtrack, that includes a giant band orchestral ensemble